easy target
Vulnerable to exploitation
An easy target is someone or something vulnerable to attack, criticism, or exploitation—requiring little effort to hit, literally or figuratively.
Tourists make easy targets for pickpockets.
The proposed budget cuts are an easy target for opponents.
The phrase often implies unfairness: going after an easy target suggests avoiding worthier or more challenging adversaries.
- sitting duckDefenseless person or thing
- pushoverEasily defeated opponent
- soft touchEasily persuaded person
- defenselessWithout means to resist
- victimOne harmed by another
lamb to the slaughter · dupe · low-hanging fruit · sucker · gullible · clay pigeon · prey · patsies · whipping boy · vulnerable · unsuspecting · wide open · fair game · mark · cannon fodder · chump · potshot · unpreparedness
- naivetygreenhorn, newbie, tenderfoot, raw recruit, born yesterday
- Easy Thingssimple, child's play, walk in the park, no sweat, piece of cake
- targetsbullseye, mark, aim, crosshairs, reticle
- vulnerabilityvulnerability, vulnerable, defenselessness, defenseless, helplessness
- easy marksmark, sucker, dupe, patsy, pigeon
- suckerssucker, lollipop, Dum Dum, Tootsie Pop, all-day sucker
easy targettough nut to crack
Difficult person or problem
untouchable · invulnerable · protected · fortified · elusive
easy targetmoving target
Object in motion pursued
wild goose chase · needle in a haystack · uncatchable · slippery fish · white whale
easy, ease, target, uneasy, easing, easier, eases, targets, targeted